“Lucian Freud has long been regarded as one of Britain’s

greatest living artists, and auctioneers at Sotheby’s were

delighted when one of his paintings came up for sale at their

august institution.

But two porters at the Bond Street auction house did not quite

see it that way and when it arrived they threw it into a giant

crushing machine, where it was destroyed. Yesterday

Sotheby’s was coy but it is understood the porters were not

making a critical evaluation on Freud’s artistic technique. The

plant study, valued at £100,000, arrived in a wooden case the

porters put out with the rubbish, believing it to be empty.” [The Independent]